Commercially available radio and television systems have been available for many years. FIG. 1 illustrates in its simplest form a transmitter/receiver combination which could be either a radio or television system, but will be assumed to be a radio system for this example. In such a system, a radio station 8 generates audio which can include voice, music, or other sounds (or video in the case of television). The audio is converted into electrical signals and is used to modulate a carrier wave 12 that is broadcast by a transmitter 10 such that the carrier wave is radiated into space.
In this example, the carrier wave 12 is then received by an antenna 16 disposed on an automobile 14. Assuming that the receiver 18, which is generally a car radio, is tuned to the frequency of the carrier wave 12, the carrier wave 12 is then demodulated by the receiver 18. Once demodulated, the above-described audio is audible from speakers 20 such that an occupant of the automobile 14 can hear the audio.
If an occupant of the automobile 14 decides to purchase the music being broadcast from the loud speaker 18, the user picks one of the conventional methods of purchasing that music. One conventional method is that of going to a music store where a compact disk (“CD”) or cassette tape can be purchased. This involves driving to that store and purchasing that medium. Other methods are also available including mail order, telephone requests, and purchasing via the Internet.
In all of these methods in order to purchase a particular CD, the user typically determines who the artist is, the song title or CD title, and other purchase information in order to purchase the product. Often, this information is not readily available. Further, even if the user does know the title or artist, there can be multiple versions of the particular song, even by the same artist, and the user may not be able to differentiate and may ultimately receive a media that contains a version that is not to their liking.
This is also inherent in other advertising media. For example, when an advertisement for a product appears on television, there is generally no immediate means of purchasing that product. Providing phone numbers for immediate ordering is an attempt at accommodating a spontaneous purchaser, but it still requires an additional layer of communication.